Aliens: Colonial Marines False Advertising Lawsuit

The next chapter in the Aliens: Colonial Marines false advertising lawsuit has unfolded. Court documents obtained by Polygon reveal that developer Gearbox Software has been dropped from a lawsuit regarding the alleged misrepresentation of 2013’s critically panned shooter, Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The case against Gearbox has been dismissed with prejudice–meaning the developer can’t launch another lawsuit for this case–under the condition that Gearbox won’t seek legal fees. Gearbox had been trying to remove itself from the lawsuit since last summer.

The Northern District of California court also ruled to remove the suit’s class-action status. A judge said the suit’s definition of the gamers who made up the class was not specific enough. What’s more, because Colonial Marines was advertised through a range of videos and presentations, it would be difficult to pin down which were misleading which were not, the court said.

The lawsuit is now represented by the two gamers who originally filed the complaint. They are in settlement discussions with Sega and have until June 3 to notify the court with how they want to proceed.

Photo by Patrick Brown

Discussion and backlash against Colonial Marines began before it was even released. The game received mediocre or bad scores from many reviewers, and publisher Sega was even concerned that Gearbox was not investing enough effort into the game. When complaints were filed that trailers for the game published pre-launch were misrepresentative of the final game, Sega admitted that the videos could have been misleading.

The next chapter in the Aliens: Colonial Marines false advertising lawsuit has unfolded. Court documents obtained by Polygon reveal that developer Gearbox Software has been dropped from a lawsuit regarding the alleged misrepresentation of 2013’s critically panned shooter, Aliens: Colonial Marines.

The Northern District of California court also ruled to remove the suit’s class-action status. A judge said the suit’s definition of the gamers who made up the class was not specific enough. What’s more, because Colonial Marines was advertised through a range of videos and presentations, it would be difficult to pin down which were misleading which were not, the court said.

The lawsuit is now represented by the two gamers who originally filed the complaint. They are in settlement discussions with Sega and have until June 3 to notify the court with how they want to proceed.

Discussion and backlash against Colonial Marines began before it was even released. The game received mediocre or bad scores from many reviewers, and publisher Sega was even concerned that Gearbox was not investing enough effort into the game. When complaints were filed that trailers for the game published pre-launch were misrepresentative of the final game, Sega admitted that the videos could have been misleading.